T LING 1407360 Chapter5
5. CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter presents the concluding remarks regarding the exploration of
the macrostructures in three texts published by the Arab News and the
Tehran Times newspapers to examine the representation of the Iran-Saudi
conflict regarding the Minna Hajj stampede of 2015 in Minna, Saudi
Arabia. Based on the research findings, this chapter also attempts to
provide some relevant suggestions.
5.1 Conclusions
This research is an exploration of the representation of one of the Islamic
harsh cases in the media, i.e. the social and political conflict between Iran
and Saudi Arabia regarding the organization of Hajj. The conclusion is
drawn on the basis of the three research problems formulated in Chapter
1, those are (1) how the Iran-Saudi conflict regarding the Mina Hajj
Stampede of 2015 is represented in the Arab News newspaper, (2) how
the Iran-Saudi conflict regarding the Mina Hajj Stampede of 2015 is
represented in the Tehran Times newspaper, and (3) the ways in which
the Islamic ideological competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia for
taking the Islamic leadership in the Arabic world is represented in the
Arab News and Tehran Times newspapers regarding Mina Hajj Stampede
of 2015. The representation is explored through macrostructure analysis
where
each
representation
reflecting
different
interests
and
different
agendas (Don & Lee, 2014, p. 702).
With regard to the representation of the Iran-Saudi conflict in the
Arab News, it is found that there are two types of representations, namely
negative
representation
of
Iran
and positive
101
representation
of
Saudi
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
102
Arabia. In other words, the representation is of THEM and US. The
negative representation of ‘THEM’ is in three types, namely (a) a political
problem maker, (b) a battle loser, and (c) criminals and have anger
towards Arabs. These three topics/themes of representations are macroFACTS that have been formulated from sequence facts in the micro-level.
Thus, the representation of the Iranian government as a ‘political problem
maker’ and ‘a bottle loser’ by the Arab News has been identified from the
Iranian political policy attendance in the Middle East, i.e., Bahrain, Syria,
and Yemen. On the contrary, the global topic/theme or macro-FACT the
‘criminals
and
presupposition
have
of
the
anger
towards
historical
Arabs’
conflicts
is
considered
(discourse
conflict)
as
a
between
Saudi Arabia and Iran regarding Hajj, which started in the 1980s.
The
positive
representation
of
US
is
30%
in
the
global
topics/themes in the three texts taken from the Arab News.
This
occurrence represents the Saudi government positively in three macroFACTS, namely (a) ‘responsible’, (b) ‘supporter’, and (c) ‘protector’ of
the Pilgrimage. The aforementioned positive representations of the Saudi
government considered as a response to the Iranian negative discourse
towards the Saudi Arabia and Saudi Officials regarding the Mina Hajj
stampede, 2015, in Minna, Saudi Arabia.
With regard to the representation of the Iran-Saudi conflict in the
Tehran Times, it is found that the representation of the Saudi Arabia
government is 66.7%. This representation reflects the ideological thinking
of the Iranians towards Saudi Arabia. Therefore, three macro-FACTS
representations have been identified in three texts in the Tehran Times,
namely the
representation.
political
Firstly,
representation,
Islamic
the Tehran Times
representation,
and
ethical
depicts Saudi Arabia as
a
country who involves in the Middle East’s problems after the Arab
Spring; Saudi Arabia had not paid any attention on the Hajj organization;
not responsible for the Hajj duties; unable to manage the Hajj crowed.
Secondly, is the Islamic representation in which the Tehran Times depicts
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
103
the Saudi government as unable to fulfill its Islamic obligations towards
the Pilgrims and the pilgrimage; showing negligence and ignorance in
managing the Hajj that leads to the huge stampede; accountable for the
Hajj stampede, in Minna. Finally, the ethical representation that consists
of five representations, namely ‘evasive’ and ‘coward’, which imply the
dishonesty between them; Saudi official (prince Muhammed Bin Salman)
caused the stampede and brought grief to the Islamic world;
and Saudi
investigations are unreliable.
Regarding the ways in which the Islamic ideological competition
between Iran and Saudi Arabia for taking the Islamic leadership in the
Arab World, it is found that the representation is in three macro-WAYS,
namely (a) the Arab Spring revolutions and uprisings in the Arab World,
(b) the Iranian support and intervention in the Middle East, and (c) the
Saudi support and intervention in the region’s problems.
With regard to the ideological positions of the newspapers, the
study found that the two newspapers encoded a left-wing stance rather
than a right-wing stance ideology in their articles. Meaning that, while the
ideologies positions were broadly the case, the newspapers’ ideological
stances were better characterized in terms of their associations with
specific political parties, i.e., Iran and Saudi Arabia. It is also found that
the two newspapers identify themselves as knowledge observers, political
commentators, and all represent some of their opinions in such a way as
to represent them to the reader as FACTS. Representing predictions as
FACTS serves engender reader expectation that the predictions will come
true, which has the added social function of pressuring politicians into
sharing in the opinion expressed as to the best course of action.
It is noted in the macrostructures that, the tension between Iran
and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and more specifically on the Hajj is
not for the religious purposes but also for showing their power and
competition for the leadership over the Islamic world.
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
104
To conclude that the aforementioned global themes/topics can be
added to Mottaghi’s (2016) study that ‘three core factors that have had the
most influence on the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran, those
are (1) identity differences between the Wahhabism and Shiism; (2) geoeconomy of oil and petroleum and (3) geopolitical hegemony in Middle
East’
5.2 Suggestions
The study presents two types of suggestions, namely implicative and
theoretical. Implicatively, the study suggests the following Ayat regarding
the discourse of Hajj. The Hajj is a spiritual pilgrimage. Meaning that, the
Hajj
cannot
be
Hajj
unless
a
Pilgrim
follows
the
Hajj
discursive
instructions mentioned in the Holly Quran. Therefore, the pilgrim may
spoil his/her Hajj if he/she does one of the three things mentioned in the
following Ayat:
اا
ف وو
ف
{ا ْلحج أشْه ٌر م ْعلوما ٌ فمن فرض فيهن ا ْلحج
ف
]197 آي: ال قر
ف ا ْلحج} [سو
Hajj is [during] well-known months, so whoever has made
Hajj obligatory upon himself therein [by entering the state
of ihram], there is [to be for him] no sexual relations and no
disobedience and no disputing during Hajj.
(Musim)
haji
adalah
beberapa
bulan
yang
dimaklumi,
barangsiapa yang menetapkan niatnya dalam bulan itu akan
mengerjakan haji, maka tidak boleh rafats, berbuat fasik
dan
berbantah-bantahan
di
dalam
masa
mengerjakan
haji.
Regarding the aforementioned, this research suggests that Iran and
Saudi Arabia must not connect the Hajj duties with political ties. The
Shi’a-Sunni
conflict
and
the
competition
for
the
Islamic
leadership
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
105
between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East do not serve for the
Muslim unity but destroy the Islamic unity.
With regard to the topic of the conflict between Iran and Saudi
Arabia in media, the findings of this research raise more questions for
further research. To illustrate this statement, further research can concern
on the Iran-Saudi ideological conflict in the Middle East, i.e., the case of
Yemen. The study can use a microanalysis comparative CDA study
between four newspapers, two Arabic newspapers and two European
newspapers. Thus, it is expected that the results of such research may
reveal how the discourse representation of the Iran-Saudi ideological
conflict regarding the case of Yemen will be vary linguistically from one
newspaper to another and the change in the role of media in representing
the
events
and
states.
The
study
recommended
van
Dijk
(2014)
framework of discourse and knowledge for the further study because this
approach is
considered as
a multidisciplinary approach that
between two concepts, namely discourse and knowledge.
connects
Thus, the
results can be more explicit, accurate, and objective. Finally, Iran and
Saudi Arabia who follow Shiite-Sunni sects of Islam, respectively, have
long been rivals in the region, but competition has intensified in recent
years.
5.3 Closing
To conclude the study, the essential of discourse studies is a contribution
to the study of language in use in the social and/or political context. The
result of newspapers discourse studies is certainly important in the sense
that the analyses expose the cognitive and social strategies used by the
people both to express their negative experiences and opinions and to
present themselves as kind, tolerant, nonracist citizens. The notion of
macrostructures
complex
plays
information
an
important
processes
of
role
in
the
cognitive
discourse
and
explores
model
the
of
global
meanings.
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter presents the concluding remarks regarding the exploration of
the macrostructures in three texts published by the Arab News and the
Tehran Times newspapers to examine the representation of the Iran-Saudi
conflict regarding the Minna Hajj stampede of 2015 in Minna, Saudi
Arabia. Based on the research findings, this chapter also attempts to
provide some relevant suggestions.
5.1 Conclusions
This research is an exploration of the representation of one of the Islamic
harsh cases in the media, i.e. the social and political conflict between Iran
and Saudi Arabia regarding the organization of Hajj. The conclusion is
drawn on the basis of the three research problems formulated in Chapter
1, those are (1) how the Iran-Saudi conflict regarding the Mina Hajj
Stampede of 2015 is represented in the Arab News newspaper, (2) how
the Iran-Saudi conflict regarding the Mina Hajj Stampede of 2015 is
represented in the Tehran Times newspaper, and (3) the ways in which
the Islamic ideological competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia for
taking the Islamic leadership in the Arabic world is represented in the
Arab News and Tehran Times newspapers regarding Mina Hajj Stampede
of 2015. The representation is explored through macrostructure analysis
where
each
representation
reflecting
different
interests
and
different
agendas (Don & Lee, 2014, p. 702).
With regard to the representation of the Iran-Saudi conflict in the
Arab News, it is found that there are two types of representations, namely
negative
representation
of
Iran
and positive
101
representation
of
Saudi
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
102
Arabia. In other words, the representation is of THEM and US. The
negative representation of ‘THEM’ is in three types, namely (a) a political
problem maker, (b) a battle loser, and (c) criminals and have anger
towards Arabs. These three topics/themes of representations are macroFACTS that have been formulated from sequence facts in the micro-level.
Thus, the representation of the Iranian government as a ‘political problem
maker’ and ‘a bottle loser’ by the Arab News has been identified from the
Iranian political policy attendance in the Middle East, i.e., Bahrain, Syria,
and Yemen. On the contrary, the global topic/theme or macro-FACT the
‘criminals
and
presupposition
have
of
the
anger
towards
historical
Arabs’
conflicts
is
considered
(discourse
conflict)
as
a
between
Saudi Arabia and Iran regarding Hajj, which started in the 1980s.
The
positive
representation
of
US
is
30%
in
the
global
topics/themes in the three texts taken from the Arab News.
This
occurrence represents the Saudi government positively in three macroFACTS, namely (a) ‘responsible’, (b) ‘supporter’, and (c) ‘protector’ of
the Pilgrimage. The aforementioned positive representations of the Saudi
government considered as a response to the Iranian negative discourse
towards the Saudi Arabia and Saudi Officials regarding the Mina Hajj
stampede, 2015, in Minna, Saudi Arabia.
With regard to the representation of the Iran-Saudi conflict in the
Tehran Times, it is found that the representation of the Saudi Arabia
government is 66.7%. This representation reflects the ideological thinking
of the Iranians towards Saudi Arabia. Therefore, three macro-FACTS
representations have been identified in three texts in the Tehran Times,
namely the
representation.
political
Firstly,
representation,
Islamic
the Tehran Times
representation,
and
ethical
depicts Saudi Arabia as
a
country who involves in the Middle East’s problems after the Arab
Spring; Saudi Arabia had not paid any attention on the Hajj organization;
not responsible for the Hajj duties; unable to manage the Hajj crowed.
Secondly, is the Islamic representation in which the Tehran Times depicts
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
103
the Saudi government as unable to fulfill its Islamic obligations towards
the Pilgrims and the pilgrimage; showing negligence and ignorance in
managing the Hajj that leads to the huge stampede; accountable for the
Hajj stampede, in Minna. Finally, the ethical representation that consists
of five representations, namely ‘evasive’ and ‘coward’, which imply the
dishonesty between them; Saudi official (prince Muhammed Bin Salman)
caused the stampede and brought grief to the Islamic world;
and Saudi
investigations are unreliable.
Regarding the ways in which the Islamic ideological competition
between Iran and Saudi Arabia for taking the Islamic leadership in the
Arab World, it is found that the representation is in three macro-WAYS,
namely (a) the Arab Spring revolutions and uprisings in the Arab World,
(b) the Iranian support and intervention in the Middle East, and (c) the
Saudi support and intervention in the region’s problems.
With regard to the ideological positions of the newspapers, the
study found that the two newspapers encoded a left-wing stance rather
than a right-wing stance ideology in their articles. Meaning that, while the
ideologies positions were broadly the case, the newspapers’ ideological
stances were better characterized in terms of their associations with
specific political parties, i.e., Iran and Saudi Arabia. It is also found that
the two newspapers identify themselves as knowledge observers, political
commentators, and all represent some of their opinions in such a way as
to represent them to the reader as FACTS. Representing predictions as
FACTS serves engender reader expectation that the predictions will come
true, which has the added social function of pressuring politicians into
sharing in the opinion expressed as to the best course of action.
It is noted in the macrostructures that, the tension between Iran
and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and more specifically on the Hajj is
not for the religious purposes but also for showing their power and
competition for the leadership over the Islamic world.
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
104
To conclude that the aforementioned global themes/topics can be
added to Mottaghi’s (2016) study that ‘three core factors that have had the
most influence on the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran, those
are (1) identity differences between the Wahhabism and Shiism; (2) geoeconomy of oil and petroleum and (3) geopolitical hegemony in Middle
East’
5.2 Suggestions
The study presents two types of suggestions, namely implicative and
theoretical. Implicatively, the study suggests the following Ayat regarding
the discourse of Hajj. The Hajj is a spiritual pilgrimage. Meaning that, the
Hajj
cannot
be
Hajj
unless
a
Pilgrim
follows
the
Hajj
discursive
instructions mentioned in the Holly Quran. Therefore, the pilgrim may
spoil his/her Hajj if he/she does one of the three things mentioned in the
following Ayat:
اا
ف وو
ف
{ا ْلحج أشْه ٌر م ْعلوما ٌ فمن فرض فيهن ا ْلحج
ف
]197 آي: ال قر
ف ا ْلحج} [سو
Hajj is [during] well-known months, so whoever has made
Hajj obligatory upon himself therein [by entering the state
of ihram], there is [to be for him] no sexual relations and no
disobedience and no disputing during Hajj.
(Musim)
haji
adalah
beberapa
bulan
yang
dimaklumi,
barangsiapa yang menetapkan niatnya dalam bulan itu akan
mengerjakan haji, maka tidak boleh rafats, berbuat fasik
dan
berbantah-bantahan
di
dalam
masa
mengerjakan
haji.
Regarding the aforementioned, this research suggests that Iran and
Saudi Arabia must not connect the Hajj duties with political ties. The
Shi’a-Sunni
conflict
and
the
competition
for
the
Islamic
leadership
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
105
between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East do not serve for the
Muslim unity but destroy the Islamic unity.
With regard to the topic of the conflict between Iran and Saudi
Arabia in media, the findings of this research raise more questions for
further research. To illustrate this statement, further research can concern
on the Iran-Saudi ideological conflict in the Middle East, i.e., the case of
Yemen. The study can use a microanalysis comparative CDA study
between four newspapers, two Arabic newspapers and two European
newspapers. Thus, it is expected that the results of such research may
reveal how the discourse representation of the Iran-Saudi ideological
conflict regarding the case of Yemen will be vary linguistically from one
newspaper to another and the change in the role of media in representing
the
events
and
states.
The
study
recommended
van
Dijk
(2014)
framework of discourse and knowledge for the further study because this
approach is
considered as
a multidisciplinary approach that
between two concepts, namely discourse and knowledge.
connects
Thus, the
results can be more explicit, accurate, and objective. Finally, Iran and
Saudi Arabia who follow Shiite-Sunni sects of Islam, respectively, have
long been rivals in the region, but competition has intensified in recent
years.
5.3 Closing
To conclude the study, the essential of discourse studies is a contribution
to the study of language in use in the social and/or political context. The
result of newspapers discourse studies is certainly important in the sense
that the analyses expose the cognitive and social strategies used by the
people both to express their negative experiences and opinions and to
present themselves as kind, tolerant, nonracist citizens. The notion of
macrostructures
complex
plays
information
an
important
processes
of
role
in
the
cognitive
discourse
and
explores
model
the
of
global
meanings.
ABDULKHALEQ ALI AHMED Al-RAWAFI, 2016
THE REPRESENTATION OF IRAN-SAUDI CONFLICT IN THE NEWSPAPERS REGARDING MINA HAJJ
STAMPEDE 2015: A Critical Discourse Analysison the Arab News and Tehran Times
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu